Gleeson White

If one regarded the many volumes on the art
of bookbinding lately published as indications of
the real feeling of amateurs towards the books
they collect, Burns' well-known epigram imploring
the maggots to "respect his lordship's taste and
share his golden bindings," would, have a much
wider significance than he intended. But even
the collector to-day is often a reader also; and he
probably keeps cheap editions of his favourite books
in duplicate for actual perusal, and enshrines his
extravagantly bound copies in silk-lined cases, or
behind air-tight glazed doors.
Yet fine bindings, whether
the phrase be taken metaphorically or literally, are
only mechanically connected with books although
modern taste demands that the volume shall be
worthy its costly robes. Certain books, notably those
issued in limited numbers from the Kelmscott and
Vale Presses, or first editions of accepted masterpieces,
are chosen for further enrichment at the hands
of a master-craftsman. No one to-day binds current
theology, legal tomes, or books of reference in
costly covers. As a rule, the only books which are
thus treated are those intrinsically valuable and
produced in a worthy manner.
It is true that an occasional minor poet or essayist
may give his own volume the honour which he alone
out of a world of men recognises as its due. But
the choice of the contents to-day is not likely to raise
surprise and tempt future collectors to quote the "fly
in amber," and wonder why a thing neither rich nor rare
was enshrined so royally. Indeed, not a few artist
binders (Mr. T. J- Cobden-Sanderson for one) refuse
to bestow upon books of no account the patient care
demanded for a first-rate
binding.

Chaucer by T. J- Cobden-Sanderson. [Click on these images to enlarge them.]

Most of the monographs on bookbinding have been devoted
entirely to old examples by unknown Italians and Germans, or by craftsmen so
widely recognised as Derome, Nicholas, and
Clovis Eve, Le Gascon, Padeloup, the Nuns of Little Gidding, Roger Payne,
and the rest. But this limitation of interest to earlier bookbinding
work is no doubt chiefly due to the plain fact that
until lately the whole decoration of modern binding
was confessedly derivate. In technique it had
reached mechanical perfection, the dexterity of its
manipulation left no loophole for criticism, but
its artistic value was too often merely that of a
well executed replica, or a new variation of accepted
motives, which possess no real vitality to attract
any but antiquarians and purists. In no craft
capable of such artistic triumphs as bookbinding
has shown itself to be, would it be possible to discover
so much artistry bestowed on mere stock.
patterns; for most of the triumphs of nineteenth
century bookbinders are at best "chaste," at worst
"deadly dull." Nearly all stand confessed as "exercises" in a certain "style," and betray no idea or invention. It is true that a large number of
foreign bindings and a few English have essayed
novelty at any cost, with the usual result. The
sham Japanese designs, the naturalistic flowers, and
fin de siecle Beardsleyesques do not come into our
subject. What we need in modern binding
"style" which is not fettered by precedent; originality without eccentricity, and, above all, a decoration which aims to beautify the appearance of the book, in contradistinction to one that if accidentally
upon a binding, would be not less inappropriate
upon a dozen other objects, in a dozen other
materials.

For the moment we may confine our attention
to the later designs of two living bookbinders
whose work has already won deserved reputation.
Both, it seems to me, have originated distinct
styles, and yet the later comer owes nothing to the
earlier worker.

Left: Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon by T. J- Cobden-Sanderson.
Right: Robinson's The Viol of Love by D.S. and E.M. MacColl. [Click on these images to enlarge them.]

The first, Mr. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, has
evolved a style all his own, although it is also
patently enough an offspring of the great aesthetic
movement, a legitimate descendant of Morris, and
Burne-Jones, of the "Arts and Crafts," and the
school of the Pre-Raphaelites. The other, Miss E. M. MacColl, carries out the designs of her
brother, whose initials, "D. S. M.," are a guarantee of sane and thoughtful art-criticism rare in the English press. Here, for the sake of convenience,
it will be easier to speak of the work as her own, but
at the same time it is but fair to recognise that the
honours are at least equally divided, and that Mr.
D. S. MacColl's very original designs have given
Miss MacColl the opportunity she has used so well.
It is not easy to trace the source of the in.spiration
of these bindings; to say that they are based on
"Classic" art, as those of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson
are remotely derived from Romantic (i.e. German), is
to sacrifice the individuality of two distinctly
original workers, merely because no other labels of
classification are handy. But in a passing notice of
this sort, the rough attempt
to distinguish the governing idea may perhaps be
permitted. At best such generalisation is slip-shod;
for any designer of consequence is always sui generis,
and creates a new class which his imitators quickly
fill up, so that it becomes a recognised "school" of
design. The main line of difference between Mr. Cobden-Sanderson and
Miss MacColl undoubtedly lies in their use of gold.
The former does not avoid the silhouette, indeed he
cultivates it; the latter relies almost entirely on
the line. Of course details might be found which
would show Mr. Cobden-Sanderson employing the outline, and Miss MacColl
using the mass. But, speaking in broad terms, this may be accepted as a
distinction characteristic of the two workers. Again,
Mr. Cobden-Sanderson relies chiefly upon a repeated pattern; Miss MacColl at times goes near a sort of conventionalised
pictorial style, using, indeed, a new convention
which suggests figures, and even landscapes, by
arbitrary curves and lines, a convention which
refuses to be classed under any previously existing
type of decoration. In placing them together, no
equality is inferred, still less is any invidious comparison suggested. No wise person sets Wagner and Chopin in opposition. Each composer
achieved what he set out to attempt; so each is a
master, and no mortal should be rash enough to
apportion the relative value of masters. That is a
task for the high gods.

Bookbinding designed by D. S. MacColl and executed by Miss E. M. MacColl.

Before referring to the illustrations which accompany this paper, it will be well to explain the
methods of both workers. Especially is it necessary
to call attention to a very important limitation which
Mr. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson set himself at first,
and has most loyally obeyed hitherto. This consists in employing as small a number as possible of
tools, "stamps," as they are technically called.
The stock rolls, "pallets," and stamps of various
designs which are to be found by the hundred
in many binderies he dispenses with entirely. The
stamps he uses, in each case cut from his
own designs, are probably little over thirty
or forty, if we leave out mere curves,
straight lines, and dots. A fine binding
illustrated in The Studio, vol. ii. p. 55,
reveals upon analysis, one rose-shaped
device, three leaves — right, central, and
left, and another floral shape. From
these five, with certain curves, lines, and
dots, is built up a most gorgeous pattern.
Whether this self-imposed limitation is
more than theoretically advantageous is
another matter. One thing is certain,
that it provokes the decorator to increased
effort, that it calls for all his ingenuity in
recombining the motives, and that the
result in his case is to impart a "Cobden-Sanderson" style to dozens of designs
entirely differing in their broad effect.
The economy of this method is not worth
considering. Bindings that cost many
guineas need not be restricted to a few
stamps merely on account of the cost;
but he has shown that the frugal material
has produced a far moie varied display of
really elaborate and memorable designs
than many of his predecessors achieved
wiio employed a far greater number of
separate stamps. The books Mr. Cobden-Sanderson has decorated, with so few tools, are wonderfully unlike each other.
Yet a close study of a dozen volumes, each entirely
independent of its neighbours, fails to discover
impressions from more than a score of tools in
all, and of these the greater portions are simple
leaf-forms of different sizes; a large daisy and "a
rose" are the only two which can be fairly called
"ornaments" in themselves, the rest are fragmentary
materials, whence the true ornaments are built up.
As might be expected, the innovator has not been
allowed to develop his individual system without
many imitators who have copied the particular
motives of his ornament closely enough. But if
any one of these is likely to betray the fertility of
design which has resulted from so few tools in Mr.
Cobden-Sanderson's hands (and there is no sign at
present), it will be a regret that so ingenious a
disciple did not break away from precedent entirely
and start with a completely fresh set of motives. But
the decoration of the finished book is by no means
the chief purpose of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson's work.
Indeed, he has spoken most emphatically against
the custom of considering the "finishing" of a
book apart from the real handiwork of binding.

No doubt, to the public the design which niaics
these volumes resplendent seems to be their chief
feature of importance. Yet without exalting this
aspect above other qualities present, which idmprise not merely the perfection of mechanism in all
the preliminary stages known as " forwarding," but
are concerned with the colour of the leather, the
thickness of the boards, and a dozen other matters,
each decided on its own merits, his decoration
deserves the widespread eulogy it has obtained.
For, as Mr. Brander Matthews wrote lately, "We
do not find on his books any of the childish symbolism
which has been abundantly advocated in
England, and, according to which, a treatise on
zoology or botany must be adorned with an animal
or a flower — a bald and babyish labelling of a book
wholly unrelated to propriety of ornamentation."
Indeed Mr. Cobden-Sanderson has himself said,
"Beauty is the aim of decoration, and not illustration
or the expression of ideas." So that not only
the ingenious method which has evolved dozens of
beautifully individual patterns from a score or two
of "stamps" deserves praise, but also the consistent
effort to avoid the stupid practice of "appropriate"
motives demands no less appreciation. Vulgar
taste loves realistic pictures in place of patterns.
The fight against the picture, which is always
endeavouring to oust the pattern, is an old one,
and it is the business of all who value the new
decorative movement to keep alive to the constant
danger which besets a decorator.

Another notable feature of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson's work is the well-placed and entirely decorative
effect of his lettering. The characters designed
(many of them by Miss May Morris) are obedient
to the best precedent and eschew all vagaries of
form dear to the "art-binder" of commerce. In
the Book of Job (see page 41) is a capital instance
of decoration obtained chiefly by finely placed inscriptions. The actual stamps used are a few small
leaf forms and dots, with scroll work built up
apparently from short curves and straight lines. In
the Chaiiicr (page 42) no additional stamps appear,
yet a totally new- effect is produced. In the Atalanta
(page 43) the actual stamps appear to be but one
floral device, and outline heart-shaped leaves in two
sizes. "Any one could do as well if he had a mind
to!" True, where the mind is equally fertile a very
few motives may re-combine into unending patterns,
but it all depends on the mind.

Much might be said of tiie flat backs Mr. Cobden-Sanderson usually employs, of the proportion of
projecting margin he allows his boards; but if such
items are not quite evident upon study of the books
it would be little use to call attention to them.
The lesson they offer is — not that an ambitious
novice should decide to work in Mr. CobdenSanderson's style — that at best would only result in
imitation, but he should study the thoroughness of
his hero's method, and express the final decoration
in his own idiom with a few "stamps" of his own
design, planned to allow a great variety of new
combinations, and worked as superbly as Mr.
Cobden-Sanderson works.

The whole scheme of Miss E. M. MacColl's
decoration is conceived on entirely different principles, not merely from those Mr. Cobden-Sanderson has developed so harmoniously, but from
those of any previous binder. In the past the
"roll" has been constantly employed; now as a
single line, and again with more or less elaborate
patterns on its rim. These wheels were usually
from two to four inches in diameter. The pattern,
as a rule, was not continuous, but showed a break
of say half an inch. This was obviously by way of
allowing a clean start for the run. If this was less
in length than the circumference of the wheel a

])orli(>ii of our ri\i)luti()n Mitlucil; but if (as often
luippt-nrd in tin.' borders to a large volume) ihc
unbroken pallLTii was longer than the circumference,
a new start was made from the break of
the pattern. Miss MacColl's wheel is a tiny thing,
scarce half an inch in diameter, and without any
pattern on its edge. Nor does she coat it with
gold as the larger wheels were often coated; in her
method the pattern is first blind-tooled {i.e., merely
impressed on the leather), gold leaf is then put
into the lines, and the actual tooling is done by
re-impressing them with the heated wheel, sometimes twice or even three times. The dexterity and accurate guidance of the tool in re-traversing the
straight or involved lines of the pattern will be more
realised by experts than by outsiders. I, who have
"forwarded" and "finished" several atrociously
clumsy bindings by the old process, can but stand
aghast at the enterprise she adventured so lightly,
and has accomplished so admiralily. In the first
designs by Mr. D. S. MacColl, it was found
necessary to cut specially several most simple
curves, which, despite their simplicity, were not
among the stock patterns of even first-rate bookbinders. This obstacle, which would have been
felt as a crying evil long before, had hinders taken
originality of pattern as a necessary part of their
scheme, was quite surmounted by the invention of
this ingenious little roulette, which has been so
distinctly the cause of the freedom of line made
possible by its use. Now that the innovation has
justified its introduction, Miss MacColl is about
to ex])eriment with wheels of much smaller diameter,
which will follow a given line almost as
freely as one could retrace it with brush or stylus.

Even in the few designs here reproduced the
whole spirit of each is due to this mobile line,
which preserves a vitality of its own as unlike the
ordinary "line" upon bindings as is that of Mr.
Aubrey Beardsley from those an engineer draughtsman
uses for his plans. Not only has Mi.ss MacColl impressed
most subtle curves by its means,
she has essayed the perfect circle, and not
unsuccessfully. If you attempt to trace a circle with a
pen the task is soon discovered to be difficult; hut
to endeavour to keep its true arc with a wheel,
implies a certain instinct only obtained after long
practice by an expert accustomed to wield brush
and crayon. That the commercial binder is apt to
betray contempt for this innovation is scarce a
thing to wonder at. All his skill, which is often
raised to the nth degree of excellence, would be of
little help in this case. It is not the expert workman
who is needed, but the draughtsman who has
brains at his finger tips, and feels almost
unconsciously the subtlety of the line; even as the fingers
of a virtuoso "stop " the string of his violin exactly
at the right spot to produce the note in perfect
tune. On a piano the spot is there unmistakably,
on the violin you have to find it anew every time;
and so with this wheel it is the trained skill that
has become a second nature, which can alone
attempt feats of this sort. For in "tooling" there
is no possibility of erasure, and little of retouching.
Like that from a silver-point, the line is indelible, and
has become part and parcel of the design — unalterable
and evident.

In the Viol of Love cover (page 44) this tooling is used in combination with a sort of mosaic of leather — applique
work as it were — which has never before been possible
in so unrestrained a manner. The Cupid, for instance, would have required a set of tools cut specially to make
a single impression possible; with her tiny cycle Miss
MacColl could accomplish a frieze of a hundred figures all entirely different, were she disposed.

It would be foolish to attempt to appraise the value
of Mr. D. S. MacColl's designs, in comparison with
those upon all previous bookcovers. There is no point
in common; or rather there
is one, and that not an unimportant detail, which it is
quite possible has never been reduced to a clear principle
before. Older bindings show obedience to it occasionally,
but far more often disregard it entirely. If we consider
the scale of a pattern for any work, we must needs
take some feature as the unit. Mr. D. S. MacColl,
recognising that the structure of a bound volume
is based upon the strings which cross the back,
and that the relative sizes of the spaces between
these strings are governed not only by the height
but by the thickness of the book, has observed
shrewdly that these said spaces (call them panels
if you will) suggest the true scale for the design
of the side. In other words, he thinks that the
scale of the pattern should never be too coarse
or too heavy to be used in these circumscribed
spaces. It is obvious that the lettering must
always be controlled by them. Every notable
binder has obeyed that principle consciously
or unconsciously; but, oddly enough, pattern
has not always been influenced by the same
rule.

But in speaking generally of "styles" in binding it
is hard to find any old "style" peculiar to bindings
whence to start a survey. Bindings have hitherto
employed with certain adaptations the style in
vogue at the period for the decorative metal work,
embroideries, and other substances. Scarce one
has been developed by the material, and possibly
not one has been consciously developed in a logical
attempt to analyse the structural features of the book,
and to plan the decoration accordingly. Limiting
our attention to whole-bound books, we fintl tliat the
raised bands of the older fashion will show almost the
only distinct effort to emphasise the construction by
the ornament. It is true that good craftsmen, from
the earliest to the latest, have kept the proportions of
the decoration to a pleasant scale, and have taken
now the lettering as the unit (as in Mr. Cobden-Sanderson's Chaucer), and again the principal "motive" of the ornament (as in the Grolier bindings). But when stock stamps are used, it follows
that the scale can only be varied within limits.

Perhaps, as a hasty attempt to differentiate
between the old and new methods, we may say
that Mr. Cobden-Sanderson has replaced the
stock stamp by a variety of incomplete parts, which
are capable of being reunited in a thousand ways,
and that Miss E. M. MacColl has superseded
"stamps" by her rouletted line. This is, of
course, a very rough-and-ready definition; but
while Mr. Cobden-Sanderson himself employs
"the line" in curves built up for certain fixed
segments, and Miss MacColl uses a few simple
stamps, these secondary details do not clash with
the main principles which govern the work of
each. In this paper the decoration, and that only,
has been touched upon. The equally important
principles which regulate the "forwarding" of the
book must be left to a more convenient occasion.